Yardage markers are often used on golf courses to indicate the distance, usually in yards, from the marker to some point on the green of the hole in question. Different golf courses may pick different points on the green to measure to. For example, some courses may indicate the distance from the marker to the center of the green, other courses might indicate the distance from the marker to the back edge of the green, while yet other courses might indicate the distance from the marker to the front edge of the green. However, most golfers playing a particular course will often know which point of the green the measurement is being made to. The purpose of the yardage markers is to give the golfer some idea of how far away he is from the green to aid in club and shot selection.
Yardage markers have been made in various ways. For example, some yardage markers include small stakes or posts which are placed along the fairway edges and which have the yardage value applied thereto. However, such markers can be placed only along the edges of the fairway and thus may not be easily visible to golfers in the middle of the fairway. In addition, such markers can be uprooted by vandals, requiring that they be reinstalled in the proper position. Moreover, the markers are exposed to the weather and are often made of wood or the like. This requires that the markers be periodically maintained by repainting them or the like.
Most golf courses these days are provided with underground irrigation systems. Such systems usually include many sprinklers spread out along the length of the course from the tee box to the green in at least the fairway portion of each hole. These sprinklers are placed not only along the sides of the fairways, but are often more or less easily distributed in the middle of the fairways as well. The sprinklers used in this application are pop-up sprinklers having a riser that retracts down into a housing buried in the ground but which elevates under the influence of water pressure applied thereto to irrigate the ground.
It has been previously realized that the tops of the golf course sprinklers could serve as convenient places to mark the yardage to the green. This has been done in the prior art by first measuring the distance from each sprinkler head to the reference point on the green and then having a plate made with the appropriate yardage figure painted or stamped thereon. This marker plate is then fixedly secured to the top of the sprinkler by gluing or screwing the plate to the sprinkler. This process is repeated for as many of the fairway sprinklers as is desired. Accordingly, while golfers are playing, they can locate the distance to the green by finding the nearest sprinkler and looking down to read the yardage figure provided on the marker plate.
The prior art marking system used on sprinklers has various disadvantages. It requires a survey of the yardage distances from each sprinkler to be made, for the yardage plates to then be custom made, and for the plates to be then applied at a later date after they are made to the right sprinklers in the right order. Thus, the yardage markers cannot be immediately applied to the sprinklers at the time of the survey but can be so applied only in a second trip. Moreover, the need to permanently affix the marker plate to the sprinkler involves some labor, particularly when the marker plate is screwed in place.
Another disadvantage presented by the prior art marking system is what happens if the yardage distances should change for some reason, e.g. the course is remodeled and the locations of the greens change. The sprinklers are now provided with incorrect marker plates. This requires that a whole new set of marker plates be made with the correct yardage distances, and that the new set of plates replace the old sets. In can be difficult to remove and replace the old set of plates without damaging some of the sprinklers. These damaged sprinklers must also be replaced. Accordingly, the prior art marking system is not capable of easy or quick revision.